


Heartbeats

by ifyouwereamelody



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heartbeats, Post-The Last Agni Kai (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:35:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifyouwereamelody/pseuds/ifyouwereamelody
Summary: And in the light-headedness that seems to have fallen over her in the space of the last split-second, Katara almost thinks she can hear it calling her, calling her in closer, closer towards him:a-one-two, a-one-two-Katara, Katara, Kata-She shakes the notion – absurd – from her head, and lifts her gaze to his face to find him unnaturally still, eyes fixed on her and flickering as if by candlelight with whatever thoughts are running behind them.A response to the Zutara Angst and Fluff Challenges that have gone on recently.Two fics, two stories, same title. One fluff, one angst.It's all in the heartbeats.
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 160





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RideBoldlyRide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RideBoldlyRide/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s not up for debate.  
> It never has been.  
> But then, when has that ever stopped Toph?  
> ‘So he throws himself in front of you, takes a bolt of lightning to the chest for you, and you still can’t get it into your head that maybe the guy’s all head over heels and crap?’
> 
> Something's changed in Zuko since the Agni Kai, and it's about time that Katara realised it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have told a teeny, tiny lie.
> 
> I know that I said I wasn't going to be writing anything else until my exams were done, but honestly, I've been off sick from work today, and revision is killing me, and I just needed a break. This kind of... spilled out? I think my brain must've been working on it in the background what with all these new Zutara one-shots floating around, and it became a story in my head without an awful lot of conscious thought on my part.
> 
> Doing this without having mentioned it to her first, but I've gotta gift this one to RideBoldlyRide - it's about time I dedicated something to her what with all her unfailing support and endorsement! Surprise!
> 
> This was a concept that I was originally going to mention in passing in Forged in Flames, but clearly something in me has decided that it deserves a wee bit more screentime, so here we go!

**Heartbeat I**

It’s not up for debate.

It never has been.

But then, when has that ever stopped Toph?

‘So he throws himself in front of you, takes a _bolt of lightning_ to the chest for you, and you still can’t get it into your head that _maybe_ the guy’s all head over heels and crap?’

Katara’s fingers don’t falter, working through her hair until it’s pulled neatly into its signature loops, but at the same time she can’t hold back a wearied sigh, a vaguely reproachful glance over her shoulder at the earthbender.

‘Look, Toph, it’s nice – weird, but nice – that you’re so invested, but this whole... whole _thing,_ it doesn’t mean- it doesn’t mean what you seem to think it means, okay? Zuko... He would’ve done it for any of us.’

The younger girl shrugs, jerks her head like _so what?_

‘Yeah, probably. But he didn’t. He did it for _you_. Because _you’re_ the one he wanted with him when he went out to face his nut-job of a sister, and _you’re_ the one his nut-job of a sister shot at because _even she_ knew that he-’

‘Okay, why _are_ you so invested in this? Why are you so determined to make it mean more that it does?’

‘Because-’ Toph lets out a sharp huff, her voice rising in exasperation. ‘Because every day, any time he’s within, what, a hundred feet of me, I can feel how it’s changed him. I can feel-’ A clench of her fists; a slow, grounding breath. ‘Just do me a favour – the next time you get a chance, take a listen to his heartbeat. Maybe then you’ll actually get it.’

The two of them stand in silence for a second – because, really, Katara has no idea what she’s meant to say to that, no notion of just how much she’s willing to indulge her friend’s undoubtedly misguided insistences – before Toph tilts her head back and punches out a growl from low in the back of her throat, as if to share her frustrations with the wooden slats of the ceiling.

‘You know, it gets real damn tiring being the only smart one around here.’

And, even as she rolls her eyes, Katara finds herself laughing.

‘I’m sure it does, Toph.’

* * *

She doesn’t mean for it to happen. It really is an honest mistake.

It does feel, though, like someone must be pulling some kind of cosmic strings or _something_ , because it’s only been a couple of hours since Toph stopped hounding her, and it’s just too much of a coincidence.

‘Zuko!’

They collide as she’s making her way back to her room after a friendly spar with Suki, a trifling eclipse that passes without notice or ceremony in the halls of the Fire Lord’s palace. Without thinking, before she’s even really had a chance to register who it is that she’s walked into, her arms are coming up to brace against the impact, and it’s only once they’ve steadied themselves in each other’s orbit that she realises her hands have come to lie, just so, against his chest.

She only half-hears him as he apologises, her attention drawn unwillingly to the rhythm that pounds – too fast and too quiet to make out properly – beneath her fingers.

‘-and I was just thinking I might go-’

‘Shh, hold on.’

Zuko’s forehead furrows. He shifts in his stance to try and take in what she’s doing.

‘Katara? What-’

‘No, wait, just-... Sorry, just hold still for a second.’

He falls silent, and Katara presses her focus into that point on his chest where his scarred, stubborn heart beats, and as its pace starts to calm a little in the quiet of the hallway-

She feels a catch in her throat, the words drifting from her lips more breath than voice.

‘She was right. Toph was-...’

‘Toph? What’s she- I really don’t understand what’s going on, here.’

‘It’s different. It’s... it’s changed.’

_There_.

An upbeat – a swift, skipping anacrusis to the normal _one-two, one-two_ that used to vibrate through him.

And in the light-headedness that seems to have fallen over her in the space of the last split-second, Katara almost thinks she can hear it calling her, calling her in closer, closer towards him.

_a-one-two, a-one-two-_

_Katara, Katara, Kata-_

She shakes the notion – _absurd_ – from her head, and lifts her gaze to his face to find him unnaturally still, eyes fixed on her and flickering as if by candlelight with whatever thoughts are running behind them.

‘We should, um...’ She coughs, trying to clear her throat of the rasp that’s made its way into her voice. ‘We should work on that some more. It’s probably scar tissue. Should see if we can clear it out a little.’

‘Mm.’

Is his breath running just that bit too short as well? Is that why he doesn’t say anything more? He’s still watching her, his stare uncertain but just as intense as it’s ever been, and she finds herself so thoroughly enfolded in its gilded depths that she doesn’t notice him moving, not until his hand meets hers where it still lingers against him.

Somewhere in the clouds of stardust and moon rock that still swirl about them from their collision, they’ve gravitated closer together, close enough that she’s sure he can feel her words – turned around and reshaped into something with more weight, more meaning now – brushing against his face.

‘It’s different. It’s changed.’

And a shiver runs through her that feels like _finally_ as, with far more ease than she could ever have anticipated, she traverses those last few inches and finds his lips with hers.

He leaves her no moment for doubt, no twinge of panic that she’s gotten it wrong. Her touch – her want – is met immediately with his, the breath in his chest stuttering as his free hand lifts to draw her face closer to him and then skims down over the fabric of her tunic to hold fast at her waist. Their fingers are still intertwined, his heart beating ever-harder under her palm, and their kiss is soft and breathy and searching in a way that makes her ache for how sweet it is.

But behind the dark of her eyelids, with the pressure of his hands exploring the curve of her back and the soft, awed whispers that he’s letting loose into her mouth, it’s like she can see into the future.

She can see the on-rushing tumble out of control, hear the gasp that will escape her when the planes of his body pull flush against hers and everything becomes _more_ , feel the way his fingers will tangle in her hair, the friction of his thigh pressed between her legs, and-

And she doesn’t want it. Not now, not _yet_.

Because there’s something so much bigger swelling behind her breastbone, something that’s been lying carefully, deliberately dormant until now, and it’s worth so much more than one desperate encounter in the middle of a hallway, where someone could pass by at any moment and shatter this delicate new reality they’re beginning to piece together.

So she forces herself to slow, to stop, and as she pulls away she can’t help but laugh – just a little breathlessly, a little self-consciously – at the glazed look in his eyes.

‘Thank you.’

Some focus comes back to him, the essence of a smile stealing across his face even as he shakes his head in bewilderment.

‘Katara, I-... I think you might need to fill me in on exactly what it was that I did.’

As if there’s any way she could put it all into words right now, how much he’s done and given and gone through for her.

How today she stood before a man whose heartbeat called to her, whose heartbeat _changed_ for her, and she thought that perhaps something in her own pulse had changed for him, too.

How, in only a few minutes that have somehow added up to the sum of every moment they’ve spent together, everything has just-

_It’s different._

_It’s changed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I've been giving y'all a lot of angst followed by a whole heap of dead space recently, so hopefully this nice wee bit of fluff will serve as a suitable mollifier. Those of you who've read my other stuff will know that happy endings aren't generally my forte, but I figured it was time for something a little sweeter.
> 
> For anyone who's interested, this added heart sound is a real phenomenon - it's an abnormal finding which can be caused by various things, including a stiff/fibrous/scarred ventricular wall. And it really does make the heartbeat sound like it's in the rhythm of Katara's name. Try looking up S4 heart sound if you're interested!


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scarcely a flicker, that’s what he imagines. The barest sense of movement, somewhere so deeply hidden you weren’t convinced it was a space that really existed in you until now. Something that demanded you held your breath and closed your eyes, just so you could hone your focus down to that feather-weight flutter, just so you could be sure you weren’t mistaken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BEFORE ANYONE STARTS READING let me just say... I do have an excuse for what you're about to see.
> 
> Essentially, the plan that took root in my mind when I was hearing about the angst and fluff challenges was to publish two pieces side-by-side which both had the same title but each fulfilled a different challenge, the twist being that you wouldn't know whether you were reading the angst or the fluff piece until you reached the end. But obviously that didn't happen, because I was feeling too fluffy and didn't want to hold off on posting the first fic, so I let the original plan go.
> 
> But what this all boils down to is... here's the angst? And... I'm really sorry?
> 
> (Also it's over 500 words, but since it's not actually written as part of the angst challenge and I'm hopeless with word limits I'm allowing myself some leeway.)
> 
> I'm not going to give any specific trigger warnings, because I feel like this fic doesn't exactly keep its tragedy secret from the get-go, but please do stop reading if at any point you're feeling as though you'd rather leave off believing it all ends well.

**Heartbeat II**

‘Oh my—’

‘What? Is something wrong, what’s—’

‘No. No, I can feel it — Zuko, the heartbeat, I can feel it!’

Scarcely a flicker, that’s what he imagines. The barest sense of movement, somewhere so deeply hidden you weren’t convinced it was a space that really existed in you until now. Something that demands you hold your breath and close your eyes, just so you can hone your focus down to that feather-weight flutter, just so you can be sure you aren't mistaken.

The new rhythm by which, from this moment, the two of them are hopelessly, wilfully bound to live their lives.

‘ _Oh_. Spirits, this is the most incredible thing I’ve ever— I wish I could show you.’

But he doesn’t need to be shown. The look on her face is enough.

* * *

He wakes to blood on the sheets. Panic rises, a bilious tide that churns and froths up in his throat until he’s gagging against it.

‘ _Katara_ , Katara, you—’

It takes her five minutes of silent assessment, water glowing at her hands, before her muscles loosen and her worry releases on a breath.

‘It’s okay. Just a little bleeding. It happens, sometimes. But it’s okay. She’s okay.’

‘You’re _sure_ that everything’s— _She_?’

A smile that illuminates the still-dark morning.

‘She.’

* * *

‘Do you really think I’m... What if I can’t...’

The words stumble over the planes of his tongue, clinging stubbornly to his lips, refusing to be brought to form outside the sanctuary of his mind for fear of what ruin may meet them.

She, though, knows how to hear what he’s unable to say, how to soothe the tremble in his voice that never even makes it to air. Just as she always has.

‘You can do this, Zuko. You aren’t him. The only thing you ever got from your father was his title.’

* * *

His fingers trace the dappled brush-marks that the swell of her belly has painted across her skin, roots that spread further across the terrain of her body with each week that the seedling inside her comes more to life.

Under his touch, something pushes back, the press of a belligerent hand or foot. Katara’s eyes shine down at him, her hands brushing across his hair as he presses his lips to the point of their daughter’s declaration, and Zuko can’t imagine, can’t fathom what kind of celestial creature he must have unknowingly done right by, that he should be brought a moment so luminous.

* * *

The floor is wet, glassy pools of her desperation gathered in the crevices of the tiles. Not glowing. Not anymore.

He stumbles to his knees beside her where she sits hunched over and motionless, her belly cradled soft between her hands, body curved protectively around the life that she’s been carrying for seven moons, seven dreams, seven delights.

Her voice doesn’t sound like hers, caught flat and off-rhythm.

‘There was something wrong. She was distressed, and I tried to help her, I tried to calm her, but—

‘She stopped moving. She stopped, and—

‘And now I can’t feel it anymore.’

The water is stealing its way up his trousers, seeping slowly higher and higher through the fabric as if it means to submerge him in bleak, sapping slow motion. He’s cold. He’s eroding.

‘You can’t fee— Katara...’

_No._

His lips are numb.

_Please._

Her voice cracks. She gasps as if she’s drowning.

‘The heartbeat. I can’t feel the heartbeat.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For what it's worth, I do not believe that the two stories held in this publication are set in the same iteration of Zuko and Katara's life together. So like, go back and read the first one again and enjoy seeing them at the start of what is undoubtedly a Happily Ever After situation. That makes this better, right? Right?


End file.
